Tim Farrell/The Star-LedgerIt was a frustrating night for Daniel Murphy and the Mets, who fought back to tie the Giants in the ninth inning but lost in 10 innings, 4-3.

NEW YORK — If only for one night, the Mets were able to assess their December trade with the San Francisco Giants. A referendum in the smallest of sample sizes, it was a triangle of center fielders past, present and disabled.

Angel Pagan, who was shipped off after a rocky year at the plate and in the outfield, homered in his return. Andres Torres, who landed in Flushing in the exchange, was not in sight, still rehabbing his strained left calf.

Instead, it was Kirk Nieuwenhuis who starred. He is the beneficiary of the trade and Torres’ injury, called up to take his place and now making a great argument to steal his job.

But Nieuwenhuis starred in vain as the Mets suffered a 4-3 loss to the Giants at Citi Field, their third in a row. They let Barry Zito slog through five innings, while allowing two earned runs, then were unable to turn a runner on third into the winning run in the ninth and the tying run in the 10th.

Nevertheless, the sullen temperament of the loss was buoyed by Nieuwenhuis. The rookie hit a home run, his second of the year, off of Zito in the fifth inning. It was Nieuwenhuis’ first career hit off of a lefty, in addition to how well he had been hitting right-handed pitchers. It was also the first opposite-field home run by a lefty at Citi Field, the only other one was an inside-the-park job by Pagan.

Nieuwenhuis brought the 30,544 fans at Citi Field to their feet in the eighth with a sprawling catch in center field, laying out to make the final out of the inning then coolly springing to his feet to flip the ball into the stands.

“I’m not going to get into who’s going to play center field in two weeks because nobody knows,” manager Terry Collins said. “But Kirk has played really, really well. He’s really been impressive. He’s played exactly how I thought he could play. One of the things I admire about him is how at 7:05, the mood changes. He doesn’t say much, likes to enjoy himself, but at 7:05 it’s game time. He takes on an entirely different persona.”

He is now hitting .371 this season, a surprising beginning. As he said after his thrills last night, “there wasn’t too much expectations.” But he has surpassed much of what could have reasonably been expected of him, all the while doing so with flair.

“It was awesome, the play tonight said it all,” Josh Thole exclaimed.

He has known Nieuwenhuis since their time together in the minor leagues. He is adamant that this is what you get with the 24-year-old Californian. Big hits and exciting catches, while his shaggy hair flops in the wind.

Last night, it was almost enough to change the final outcome. The spark to make up for the one that was missing from the Mets’ lineup for most of the evening.

Thole drove in Jason Bay to tie the game at 3-3 in the ninth and left Nieuwenhuis on third with one out. But a feeble ground ball to first from Mike Baxter led toNieuwenhuis thrown out at home and Ruben Tejada ending the inning striking out.

In the 10th, now down one run with Daniel Murphy on third and David Wright on second, Bay could only produce a strikeout, missing on an 88-mph fastball. Then Lucas Duda sent a fastball flying into the chill night, landing in the glove of Gregor Blanco in center field.

In the interim it was Frank Francisco who could not keep the status quo and took the loss, allowing a walk to Melky Cabrera to lead off the 10th inning and he came around to score on Hector Sanchez’s weak single into shallow center field.

“We didn’t really hit the ball well,” Collins said. “But the two home runs kept us close. Jon (Niese) pitched well. He had one bad inning, but was able to keep us in the game. We had opportunities to win the game.”